The Scottish Greens have welcomed comments by the First Minister on ideas for a written constitution of an independent Scotland, but say that further clarity on the timescale is essential. (1)

Patrick Harvie, MSP for Glasgow and Co-convener of the Scottish Greens, said:

“I welcome the commitment of the First Minister to the need for modern written constitution that could enshrine certain rights, such as the economic and human rights which international treaties set out. But the timescale for developing this is crucial. At the moment the suggestion seems to be that this is something we could work on once sovereign powers have been transferred following a Yes vote, but this would imply a dangerous period of constitutional vacuum.

“The First Minister is right to say that the process of writing a constitution should engage all of Scotland, and not just political parties, but for that to happen we should aim to inspire people now with a picture of how other countries such as Iceland have gone about this in a radically democratic way.

“The Scottish Greens strongly support a constitutional bar on nuclear weapons and on nuclear alliances, and given the chance to shape a Scottish constitution we would make that case.”

1 Comment

should a Yes vote be successful I would absolutely support wide consultation on many aspects regarding the eventual shape of any ‘independent’ Scotland, not simply a constitution – surely there will be many many years of ‘wheeling and dealing’ before anything approaching a concensus is achieved. I cannot realistically see any way to avoid a damaging impasse whilst the politicians with vested interests seek to secure their own futures. Much as I am attracted to the romance of being independent I tend towards being pragmatic – whatever the future holds Scotland and the rest of the world must inevitably be inter-dependent – although if we could operate independently of self-important politicians keen to promote vanity projects – that would be rather attractive.